


I Don't Know You (But I Want You)

by hockeyyybabyyy



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baseball, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cheesy, Dumb boys being dumb, M/M, amiration, connor is still good at his sport and no one is surprised, ryan has butterflies in his stomach, ryan is dumb about baseball, ryan loves connor's smile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-01 18:25:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15149177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hockeyyybabyyy/pseuds/hockeyyybabyyy
Summary: So far, Ryan has learned three things about baseball.One, baseball is incredibly statistics based.Two, baseball is slow. When he compares it to hockey, it’s very much a game of waiting.And three, although nothing could ever beat the way hockey jerseys look, Ryan really appreciates baseball pants.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [stonesnuggler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonesnuggler/pseuds/stonesnuggler) in the [PuckingRare2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2018) collection. 



> have i ever posted a fic before? nope. have i ever written a fic before? oH buddy, don't even ask.
> 
> anyways, here's my first venture into the world of writing about dumb hockey boys. i need to thank a lot of people for their help with this, but most importantly i need to thank ria for not only creating this prompt, but for all of her love and cheerleading and her guidance into the world of strome. 
> 
> ps, shoutout to everyone involved in pucking rare because it's pretty frickin' amazing.
> 
> also, be on the look out for my one line reference to ryan nugent-hopkins aka love of my life <3

Ryan doesn’t really understand the hype around baseball. I mean sure, he understands being invested in a sport to the point where it’s unhealthy (because he loves hockey more than life itself), but he’ll never understand why people are drawn specifically to baseball. There are too many stoppages, and the players are almost never moving. Which drives him insane when he watches it because in hockey, if you’re caught flat footed you’re basically fucked. But you could watch a whole baseball game and there will be zero hits! How is that entertaining to watch? Even when the bottom teams in the NHL play each other it’s better than that!   
  
So yeah, Ryan really doesn’t “get” baseball.   
  
All of his buddies love baseball though. They each have their favourite team, and their favourite player. Most of them are big fans of the Toronto Blue Jays, mostly for proximity reasons. He has a buddy that’s a pretty big fan of the White Sox. Or is it the Red Sox? Who knows. Why would a league give two teams almost the exact same name? Seems like a terrible idea to Ryan. How can you even remember which player plays on which team when both teams are nicknamed “The Sox”?   
  
And another thing!! He hates how baseball players get paid an astronomical amount to swing a piece of wood around, when hockey players race their asses off up and down the ice for - okay, well technically speaking hockey players use pieces of wood too. But that’s beyond the point. Clearly the point is that hockey is superior in every way, right down to the jerseys they wear.   


\------------

  
Logan dragged him here. That’s the only reason that Ryan is currently drinking ballpark beer and listening to all of his buddies drunkenly shout the words to “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”. As Ryan sits there and cringes at the drunkenness of his friends, he wonders what it would be like to see a baseball player on skates. _Pretty fucking funny_ , he things to himself.   
  
The god awful singing has stopped and the slightly less awful game has resumed. The PA announcer says something or other about a pitching change for the visiting team, followed by: “Now batting, number 97, Connor McDavid”.   
  
The crowd fucking loses it. Ryan’s pretty sure he’ll never hear properly again. The kid gets a standing ovation. Before he’s even batted! Ryan wonders if this Connor guy is any good or if he just gets hyped up because he’s young and new.   
  
“Connor” looks pretty unfazed by all the screaming and cheering as he walks up to the plate, stopping to put on his batting gloves. He walks up to the plate and holds up his bat. The crowd is still cheering for him. The pitcher throws the ball towards him and Connor swings so fast that had he blinked, Ryan would’ve missed it. The bat meets the ball, there’s a loud crack, and the ball flies towards the outfield. Ryan’s watching the whole thing, but almost doesn’t register the ball flying towards his face in time. He sticks up his left hand and catches it bare handed as the crowd continue to scream and cheer. _Holy shit_ , is all Ryan can think before his buddies are all slapping him on the back, so impressed that he caught it bare handed while managing to not spill his beer.   
  
“So, who do I give the ball back to?” Ryan asks. All of his friends burst out laughing.   
  
“Dude! You just caught Connor McDavid’s home run ball! He hit a home run and the only person in the stadium that doesn’t know who he is caught the fucking ball!” Graham is laughing his ass off in disbelief.   
  
Ryan rolls his eyes at his friends, trying to play off his own stupidity as a joke, and looks up at the field to see McDavid jump as he crosses home plate, high giving one of his teammates. Ryan notices that while his teammate is laughing, Connor looks barely more than content.   
  
“Jeez, does McDavid ever smile about anything?” Ryan hears a guy behind him ask. Seems a little insensitive to assume that the dude just never smiles. That’s like saying he’s never happy. Which can’t be true because he’s playing a sport that he loves. Ryan gets the attempt to hold a straight face, because showing emotion can be seen as weakness sometimes, but when something exciting happens (and Ryan’s pretty sure home runs are supposed to be exciting if his friends’ reactions are anything to go by), you should be able to show that sheer joy you feel. But Ryan doesn’t judge, maybe it’s part of the guy’s game plan.   
  
It appears during their conversation that the inning ended and Ryan’s buddies have decided they need more beer. So they all venture up to the concourse and find the closest beer, buy 2 a person, and head back to their seats. One of his friends points out that they were gone for so long it’s “the bottom of the last inning already for fucks sake”. Ryan assumes that means the game is almost over, so he sits back, sips his beer and watches. The first batter doesn’t do anything good, but the second guy gets to last one is McDavid. Ryan thinks that it has to be a lot of pressure on the dude, kind of similar to a shootout. The adrenaline flowing, the crowd cheering, being your team’s last chance. But then again, people always say that the best players show up in the biggest moments.

 

McDavid has been at the plate for a while now and Graham points out that “holy fuck it’s a full count!” Ryan has absolutely, positively zero idea what that means, but it seems awfully exciting.

 

The pitcher winds up and throws the ball and Connor connects again, sending the ball sky high. The wind catches it and the ball just keeps travelling. Back, back, back, back, until the player from the other team is jumping against the wall in an attempt to make a highlight reel catch. He gets his glove on it but can’t make the grab, essentially being the reason for McDavid’s homerun.

 

“Hey, that guy got an assist on McDavid’s home run!” Ryan shouts. Graham, Justin and Logan all turn and give him a look of disbelief.

 

“Ryan, you’re joking right?” Justin asks.

 

“Stromer, could you _PLEASE_ think of something other than hockey for like 2 minutes?!” Graham says, rolling his eyes.

 

“Wait so. That guy didn’t actually mean to do that?” Ryan is so confused. Isn’t it good that he helped Connor get that homerun? Their team is winning now!

 

“Ry, did you happen to notice that the guy that just attempted to catch that is wearing a white and baby blue jersey?” Logan’s genuinely asking now, and Ryan’s just thankful that they aren’t all judging him anymore.

 

“Yes, obviously,” Ryan pouts, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

 

“Okay, and did you notice that McDavid is wearing a royal blue and black jersey?” Logan prods.

 

 _OH,_ Ryan thinks. _So that’s why that guy was so upset at himself for not making the catch._

 

“Huh, so they’re on different teams?” Ryan asks. All of his friends nod rapidly. “So it’s like hockey, where the batter is on offense and the pitcher and all the guys behind him on defence, right?” Graham laughs.

 

“There’s really no getting anything past you, eh Stromer?” He says as he claps Ryan on the shoulder.

 

The boys are drawn out of the conversation by the announcer saying: “With that home run, your University at Buffalo Bulls win and are now in first place in the division!” Everyone cheers and Ryan looks up at the jumbotron just in time to see a guy in a suit standing next to McDavid.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, with the walk off home-run, Connor McDavid!” Everyone cheers again. Including Ryan this time. “So Connor, pretty good game for you guys, eh?”

 

“Not too bad, got a little luck there at the end. We still have some adjustments to make before tomorrow’s game,” Connor says, straight faced as hell.

 

“Was there any specific way you wanted to approach that last at bat?”

 

“Just look for a hittable pitch, stick to our game plan, try and bring home a run. Nothing too fancy.”

 

As the announcer goes to ask the next question, two of Connor’s teammates run up behind him and dump a cooler full of gatorade on him. Connor laughs and turns around to see who the culprits were.

 

 _Huh,_ Ryan thinks. _Connor has a really nice smile. It’s a shame that no one gets to see it._

 

“Alright Connor, I’ll leave you to your celebrations,” the announcer comments, even as Connor is already half turned around, ready to walk away and give his boys shit.

 

“Yeah, no problem man.”

 

Ryan watches as Connor walks back to his team’s bench, toweling off his hair in a move that really shouldn’t seem so attractive.

 

“Hey guys,” Justin says, drawing Ryan away from his thoughts. “One of my buddies that works for the Bills has access to the clubhouse and said he would take us down to meet the team!” Justin looks up from his phone with a huge grin on his face.

 

“Dude, that’s fucking incredible! What’re we waiting for, let’s go!” Graham stands, chugs the rest of his beer, and points at Ryan. “Let’s make your first ball game even more unforgettable, eh?” Ryan smiles nervously and shrugs his shoulder. _Why the hell not,_ he thinks.

\-----

 

Ryan and Logan trail a little behind Graham and Justin as they all walk towards the Bills locker room to meet Justin’s friend. Ryan’s palms are a little sweaty and he can faintly feel butterflies forming in his stomach. _Why am I so nervous,_ Ryan thinks. _They’re normal guys, just like me._

 

“Justin!!” They all look up to see a guy in a suit standing outside the dressing room waving in their direction. Ryan follows behind his friends as they walk towards the door. “Follow me, the players are just getting changed. Some of them are getting some work done with the trainers, but you’ll get to meet all of them eventually.” The man in the suit opens the door and the guys all file in.

 

Ryan looks around and awkwardly makes eye contact with some of the players as he follows his friends further into the depths of the locker room.

 

“By the way, my name is Eric,” Justin’s friend says. “And welcome to the Bills clubhouse! Feel free to go talk to the players, eat some of the snacks we have, go out and look at the field. Come find me if there’s any issues.”

 

Ryan and Logan decide to go out and walk on the field. As they walk into the dugout, Ryan looks out at the field, freshly raked and ready for tomorrow’s game. The stadium is huge, so much bigger than a hockey arena. Ryan thinks about how thousands of people were filling the stadium not even an hour ago. How much of a contrast the screaming and cheering is to the loud silence that now fills the stadium. Logan nudges him and they walk out onto the field.

 

“Ry, gimme your phone and I’ll take a pic of you on the field with your ball,” Logan says. Ryan hands over his phone and walks toward the pitching mound. Logan goes and stands behind home plate, then he crouched down in a squat. Ryan gives him a questioning look. “What? It’ll be a cool angle.”

 

Ryan shrugs and lifts up one leg, immitatting what he saw the pitchers in the game do. He puts on a super serious game-face and sees the flash goes off as Logan takes the photo.

 

“You know,” Ryan hears a voice yell from the dugout. “Your hips are rotated to far towards third base. There’s no way that pitch would be any good.” Ryan turns towards the dugout and sees Connor McDavid walk out onto the field.

 

“Uh,” Ryan stammers. “I don’t actually play baseball, I was just-”

 

“Based on your pitching stance, I kind of already knew you didn’t play.” McDavid walks towards Ryan and extends his hand. “Hi. I’m Connor.” Ryan reaches out to shake his hands and feels a blush start to creep it’s way up the back of his neck. _What the fuck is wrong with me,_ Ryan thinks.

 

“Hey Stromer, you should get McDavid to sign your ball!” Logan yells. Connor looks at Ryan, raising his eyebrows. Ryan internally facepalms.

 

“Ball?” Connor asks.

 

“Earlier when you hit the homerun, I caught the ball,” Ryan says, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“Oh, sweet! I’d love to sign it for you, just lemme go grab a sharpie,” Connor turns and jogs back over to the dugout. Ryan walks over to Logan and punches him in the bicep.

 

“What the fuck, man,” Ryan whispers.

 

“Oh, come on Stromer, I’m just helping you out,” Logan whispers back, a smirk on his face.

 

“Helping me out with what? Starting my collection of baseball autographs?”

 

“Ry, don’t try to tell me that you don’t already have a blossoming crush on McDavid,” Logan whispers. Ryan doesn’t know what Logan is talking about. He does _not_ have a crush on a baseball player he doesn’t know. Nope. No way. Not possible. “Yes you do,” Logan says. _Shit,_ Ryan thinks _, I’ve got to get better at keeping this internal monologue in my head._

 

“So, what’s your name?” Connor asks, as he walks back towards them. Ryan’s dumb founded for a second, unable to remember his own damn name. “So I can write it on the ball?” Connor says, trying to probe Ryan into an answer.

 

“Right! Sure, uh, it’s Ryan.” Ryan hands Connor the ball, watching as Connor brings the sharpie up to his mouth and bites the cap to pull it off.

 

“He’s your biggest fan now!” Logan laughs as he talks. “It’s his first game and he caught your homerun ball, lucky bastard.”

 

“Cool,” Connor replies. He starts writing on the ball, but it’s too dark in the stadium and Ryan can’t see what the message says because of the shadows. “There ya go,” Connor says, smiling as he hands the ball back to Ryan. Ryan looks down at the ball, trying to read the message in the dark.

 

_Ryan,_

_Great to meet my new #1 fan! Pretty cool to meet a person that caught one of my homerun balls. Hope to see you at more games in the future._ _Text me and I’ll make sure you get awesome seats right behind home plate so you can see me (and I can see you) ;)_

 

Underneath the note is Connor’s signature, the number 97, and his phone number. Ryan looks up at Connor, who bows head.

 

“Coach always says, just because we’re baseball players, doesn’t mean we can’t shoot our shot.” Ryan stares at Connor, pleasantly surprised by his whole persona. Connor isn’t what Ryan expected him to be, but he can’t say he’s disappointed.

 

“Hey guys, lemme take a picture of Connor and his biggest fan,” Logan says. Connor throws an arm around Ryan’s shoulders and they smile at the camera. The flash goes off and Ryan goes to pull away, but Connor’s hand on his shoulder stops him.

 

“Text me, yeah?” Connor asks, big green eyes locked on Ryan.

 

“Yeah of course,” Ryan replies, a small, lopsided smile on his face. Connor smiles back, warm and genuine, and Ryan feels those butterflies fluttering in his stomach again.

 

“Well, I gotta go, my brother’s waiting for me,” Connor says, waving as he walks backwards towards the dugout. “See you later.”

 

“Bye!” Logan yells.

 

“See ya,” Ryan says, smile still on his face.

 

“Alright,” Logan says, turning to Ryan and putting both hands on his shoulders. “We’re gonna make you a genius about all things baseball related so you can talk to Connor. Then, as a thank you, you’re gonna take me to every game with you.”

 

“Yeah okay,” Ryan replies. “What’ve I got to lose?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically just more of ryan being dumb about baseball. and connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was going to go one of six ways. this final version is none of those six ways, but it's cute and cheesy so enjoy :)

So far, Ryan has learned three things about baseball.

 

One, the game is incredibly statistics based. Obviously hockey relies on statistics a lot too, but sometimes hockey teams will sign a guy because they need a leader, or because they want a power play specialist, or a right shot defenceman. But everything in baseball is numbers. Batting averages, on base percentages, ERA, strikeouts per 9 innings pitched. Anything related to baseball has a statistic. It’s crazy. And Ryan’s just skimming the surface. There are an umpteenth amount of statistics when it comes to baseball, but each player is mostly only concerned with their own stats. Which makes sense because who has the time to memorize all those numbers?

 

Two, baseball is slow. When he compares it to hockey, it’s very much a game of waiting. Waiting for the next pitch, waiting for the start of the next inning. And it’s weird, but he likes the flow of it. Calm, until a batter gets a hit and everyone jumps into motion all at once. It’s kind of like being on a rollercoaster. Always on the incline, but you never know when the drop is coming.

 

And three, although nothing could ever beat the way hockey jerseys look, Ryan _really_ appreciates baseball pants.

 

So, overall he’s feeling pretty good about how much he’s taught himself (with Logan’s help of course). He knows all of the basic rules. And he’s starting to understand all the terms used in baseball. It’s funny because when he feels like he’s learning a new language or something. Everything seems so foreign and new.

 

But Ryan has to admit that amidst all of the new things in his life revolving around baseball, Connor is his favourite.

 

After the meeting Connor that first night, Ryan went home and _almost_ texted Connor, debating for an hour about what to say before he fell asleep with his phone in his hand. When he woke up, he regretted not texting Connor. Which was strange because he didn’t even know the guy.

 

A few days later, Ryan had finally typed out a message to Connor. He stared at it for 5 minutes before pressing send.

 

**_Hey, it’s Ryan_ **

 

Before Ryan could even close his messages, he saw the bubbles pop up to indicate Connor was typing.

 

 _ryan who? nuge did you get a new phone_ again _?_

 

**_Uh, Ryan from last night. The guy that caught your home run ball?_ **

 

The typing bubbles don’t appear right away this time. Ryan turns off his phone and panics a little. Maybe Connor had been joking when he had asked Ryan to text him? Maybe it’s not even Connor’s number and it’s just one of teammates pretending to be him. Which would be pretty rude and Ryan doesn’t really think Connor would do something like that.

 

His phone dings with a notification and he reaches so fast to grab it that he knocks it on the floor. _I really need to chill,_ Ryan thinks to himself. _Or get laid,_ another voice in his head says. Ryan ignores both voices and picks up his phone.

 

_oh THAT ryan. what’s up man?_

 

Ryan starts typing and then pauses. Those butterflies are back in his stomach again. Which seems to be a recurrence whenever he interacts with (or thinks about) Connor.

 

**_Not much, just woke up. I’m going to go for a run._ **

 

_dude it’s pouring rain_

 

Well then. Maybe Ryan should’ve looked out the window _before_ getting changed into his running clothes.

 

_Well there goes my plans for this morning._

 

Ryan waits a few minutes for a reply, staring at his phone, willing it to ding with the notification, until he realizes that his message doesn’t really warrant a reply. Great.

 

Before he can regret it, he texts Connor again.

 

_Do you have a game tonight?_

 

This time Connor replies almost instantly.

 

**_yeah at 7pm. you wanna come?_ **

 

Ryan thinks about it. Obviously he’d love to go. He kinda sorta almost understands baseball now. Plus he’s pretty sure that Logan has no life and will for sure go with him.

 

_Sure. Sounds like a good time :)_

 

**_alright i’ll leave two tickets for you at will call so you can pick them up. i gotta hit the hay, game day waits for no one. see ya tmrw_ **

 

Ryan smiles at his phone as he types out the reply.

 

_I’ll be there_

 

_\-----_

 

Of course the one day Ryan needs him is the day that Logan was busy. Something about “needing to dogsit for his parents”, or something like that.

 

So Ryan goes to will call super early. At 5:55 to be exact. Because he wanted to watch warm up. And maybe see Connor. But mostly watch warmup.

 

As Ryan approached the gate to the stadium, a security guard stopped him.

 

“Gates don’t open till an hour before game time,” the guard says, crossing his arms over his chest authoritatively. Ryan looks at his phone and sees that it’s 5:59. _Is this a joke,_ Ryan thinks to himself. But he waits the two minutes and the finally guard lets him in, albeit begrudgingly.

 

Ryan wanders around, trying to find the section where his seat is. Of course, when he finally finds the section, he realizes the seat is just to the left of the Bills dugout behind home plate. He walks down to his seat and takes in the view as some of the players walk onto the field.

 

Ryan can feel someone’s eyes on him, and when he turns his head he finds Connor giving him a small smile.

 

“Hey. I didn’t know you were planning on coming to batting practice,” Connor says as he awkwardly waves at Ryan.

 

“Oh, batting practice. Yeah, right, well I just, wanted to see the, uh,” Ryan stutters his way through the statement, not really sure where he’s going with this.

 

“Yeah, cool. Always good to have people around that I know,” Connor says.

 

Ryan looks hard at Connor for the first time that day. His hair is tucked under his backwards baseball cap, one tuft sticking out the front. He’s got a fresh sheen of sweat across his nose, and the top button of his jersey is undone. He looks unfairly good.

 

“Did you hear what I said?” Connor asks.

 

“Oh. Yeah, sure, of course” Ryan answers, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly.

 

“Okay good. So I’ll see you around?”

 

“You bet,” Ryan says, turning to walk back up to the concourse. He really needs a beer.

 

\-----

 

The game is pretty exciting. Ryan didn’t really expect to have _that_ good of a time, but it turns out that baseball fans are pretty friendly and he didn’t even feel that lonely. The Bills were on fire (at least Ryan thinks they were). The crowd was losing it during the entire game, every hit, every catch, every out seemed extremely exciting.

 

The Bills win, _that_ Ryan is sure of. So of course all the players are in a good mood after the game. Ryan walks over to the side of the dugout, waiting for Connor to notice him.

Someone that Ryan assumes to be one of his teammates approaches Connor and slaps him on the back. The guy says something and Connor laughs, joyous and bright and completely the opposite of his demeanour during the game. Ryan is almost content to just watch Connor, appreciating how free and careless he seems when he’s not being competitive as fuck.

 

Of course Connor eventually turns around and his eyes zero in on Ryan. He somehow looks bored and focused at the same time and Ryan feels stuck in place. Connor walks towards him and Ryan smiles, trying to lighten the look in Connor’s eyes. As expected, it works and Connor’s face breaks out into a huge smile.

 

“You won!!” Ryan yells, reaching out for a high five.

 

“Fuck yeah we did!! Was there ever any doubt?” Connor shouts back through his laughter. They high five and Ryan feels his heart flutter a little at the contact.

 

“So, you’re probably going to go celebrate with your team, but if you want, I know this bar not too for from here that has the _best_ chicken wings and cheap beer.” Ryan waits for Connor’s answer, afraid he’ll say no but afraid that he’ll say yes.

 

“Yeah I’d love to go. I just have to shower and stretch and what not. What’s the name of the place? I can meet you there in a half hour.” Connor pulls out his phone, ready to google the bar Ryan had mentioned.

 

“Eddie Brady’s Tavern.”

 

“Cool. See ya there, Ry.” Connor turns on his heel as he pocket his phone and Ryan’s beams at the use of the nickname.

 

\-----

 

Ryan’s tucked into a booth in the back of the bar nursing his first beer. He doesn’t want to keep desperately checking his phone for updates from Connor, but what else has he got to do?

 

He goes to pull his phone from his pocket for the eighth time in the last 3 minutes when he sees a familiar face walk through the door. Connor scans the bar and when he sees Ryan, his whole demeanor relaxes as if Ryan’s presence is calming for him. The butterflies in Ryan’s stomach are flapping their wings very rapidly now.

 

“Hey,” Connor says as he slides into the booth. He’s eyeing Ryan’s beer, clearly wanting one of his own. Ryan flags down the waitress and orders them each a beer. He casually looks Connor up and down and thinks, _I’d definitely tap that._

 

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m pumped for these chicken wings. I’m starving.” Just as Connor finishes his sentence, Ryan’s stomach grumbles.

 

“Great minds think alike, eh?” Ryan says, laughing.

 

The waitress brings their beers then and they cheers to the Bills back-to-back wins.

 

“So Ryan, not a big baseball fan, huh?” Connor asks, sipping his beer.

 

“I’ve only ever been to two games. Do with that information what you will,” Ryan replies with a smirk. “I’ve played hockey my whole life. So did both of my younger brothers.” Ryan suddenly feels compelled to spill his life story to this guys he barely knows.

 

“Really? My brother and I grew up playing hockey. I used to just play baseball in the summer as conditioning but I ended up really enjoying it so I stuck with it.”

 

“You’re good, from what I can tell,” Ryan blurts. _Way to go idiot,_ Ryan scolds himself. _I might as well be wearing an “I heart Connor” shirt._

 

“Thanks. I guess coming from someone so inexperienced, it’s flattering. You see me the wish I could see myself,” Connor says as he sighs.

 

“No, hey, listen. You’re great, amazing even. You’re the identity of this team, the heart and soul.” Ryan tries to comfort Connor, but he wishes he could hold his hand while he does it. Human contact makes everything more comforting.

 

“Thanks I guess,” Connor shrugs as he speaks. “The pressure to be the best just sucks times. Sometimes I wish I could be playing in Triple A, hittin’ dingers and just being chill all the time.”

 

“But if you were in Triple A, you wouldn’t get to hit all those double plays!” Ryan smiles at Connor hopefully, and Connor shakes his head.

 

“Riiight. So you’ve really been working at learning all your baseball terms, huh?” Connor asks.

 

“Yeah, my friend that came with me the other day _loves_ baseball more than breathing,” Ryan says as he laughs awkwardly. “He’s been helping me figure out some stuff. Why do you ask?”

 

“Well,” Connor starts. “A double play isn’t actually a good thing when you’re the batter. It means that the defence got two batters out on the same play.”

 

 _OH_ , Ryan thinks. “Shit,” Ryan says through his laughter. “My bad?” He tries to go for fake innocence and ends up laughing. Connor laughs too and eventually they both forget what they’re laughing at, content to just be happy together for a moment.

  
  
So, maybe Ryan doesn’t exactly _get_ baseball. But for now he gets Connor, slightly buzzed, happy and relaxed. And that’s a win in his book, regardless of the sport.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! in case you didn't know, this is a work of fiction!! if you've made it this far and have seen your own name or the name of anyone you know *cough* ryan or connor *cough cough*, please abort mission and continue on with your day! 
> 
> if you wanna talk about anything oilers related, or hawks related, or hockey related in general:
> 
> [come find me on twitter!!](https://twitter.com/hockeyyybabyyy/)


End file.
